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Are you the sort of person who says to themselves "Self, 2015 is all well and good with 3D printers and smartphones, but it's not really the future until we get giant fighting mechs?" Well, if you are, good news! The MegaBots giant fighting mech that we saw at Maker Faire a few months ago is going to fight its Japanese rival for robot* supremacy.

MegaBots throws down the gauntlet at its Japanese rivals.

At the end of June, MegaBots challenged Suidobashi Heavy Industries to a titanic duel of the titans via YouTube (above). This past weekend, Suidobashi Heavy Industries accepted (below).

The MegaBots Mk II has a weight advantage going into the fight, tipping the scales at ~12,000lbs (5,400kg), and it's packing more firepower, with paintball cannons that fire 3lb (1.4kg) paintballs at high speed. By contrast Kuratas—the Japanese mech—is lighter (8,800lbs/4,000kg) and will require a more suitable load-out for the battle. It's currently equipped with BB-firing Gatling guns, which may have trouble denting the Mk II's armor.

In accepting MegaBots' challenge, Suidobashi's founder Kogoro Kurata cast shade on the newer robot. "Come on guys," he said in his video response. "Make it cooler. Just building something huge and sticking guns on it... it's Super American."

Whether or not this first mech duel presages the impending invasion of earth by a swarm of kaiju or sets us on a more positive trend where one day mech fights are used to settle world conflicts remains to be seen. But it does herald the fact that we're finally living in the future. See for yourself below.